Antonio Mohamed, Toluca's coach, backtracked on his media dispute with commentator David Faitelson, finally granting an interview to Televisa Deportes, to reiterate his decision to bench Hugo Gonzalez. The decision to bench goalkeeper Hugo Gonzalez was not arbitrary, but a collective one. Thus, the whole mess generated by Faitelson's comments on social media, where he questioned the moral and ethical character of the Argentine coach for benching the goalkeeper who made a mistake in the first leg, was not arbitrary, but supposedly a decision agreed to by the affected goalkeeper himself. “The decision is 100 percent mine, obviously consulted with Oscar, the goalkeeping coach, and based on my experience with Hugo Gonzalez in other situations, I believed that the best thing for the team was for Luis Garcia to play,” the coach told TUDN.

“Nothing, Hugo was ready to play with him, but with a bit more pressure than Luis. It was a purely footballing decision; I believed it was best for the team, and well, these are decisions that have to be made as the manager in important moments. I based it on the fact that everything was happening very quickly, and if it was a league match, even more so if it was against a different opponent, it would surely have been Hugo, but it was all very fast against the same opponent, and I preferred to make that decision,” he emphasized.

Prior to this interview, Faitelson supposedly tried to contact Mohamed again, but the Argentine coach didn't answer the call, although he did end up granting all the interview requests from the different programs on this television network.

Mohamed admitted that he lost his temper with Faitelson

Regarding the problem with David Faitelson, where the commentator's criticisms caused the Toluca manager to lose his temper, Mohamed himself admitted that he lost his temper when he heard the controversial commentator's criticisms with the outcome already openly known.

“At one point during the celebration, they came to get us to go there,"I lost my temper again, and well, I told him how I felt.I told him to his face right then and there, and I apologize to all of you, the audience, the channel. It doesn't have to be like that, so I extend my apologies to you and everyone who was watching the programming that day," he added.

He also said that he has no conflict whatsoever with Televisa and that he will continue to give interviews when requested.

Case closed with Faitelson

Antonio Mohamed, aware of all the media interest this matter generated, announced that the issue with David Faitelson was closed: "For me, it's a closed case, and we'll go our separate ways. I feel the same way, I feel indebted to you all, and I offer a public apology because you know me. I have nothing against you, the channel, anyone, or the company." On the contrary, we were always in the media spotlight. I was there a month before the final, and I have no problem going," he stated. I have acknowledged that the problem wasn't with the channel, but with the person. El Turco said that the criticism doesn't affect him, although it seemed otherwise given the furious way the strategist reacted, even threatening to headbutt the announcer. "Criticism doesn't affect me at all; it's just an opinion. You might like a change, or you might not." "I'm not ashamed that people don't like my teams, I think that's perfectly fine. Any of you can say the same, but with all due respect," he said.

Toluca will strengthen its squad to cover absences of national team players

On the other hand, Mohamed confirmed that Toluca will strengthen its squad to cover the absences of Mexican national team players Jesus Gallardo, Marcel Ruiz, and Alexis Vega, who will not be able to participate in the playoffs due to the 40-day training camp that the national team will have.

“We are looking at signing reinforcements; it has already been discussed with the board, mainly regarding Mexican players that we have analyzed, but we will certainly look for the corresponding alternatives to make a competitive team,” he explained.